Lorely Ambriz

Lorely Ambriz is the Libraries Districtwide Coordinator and Professor at El Paso Community College (EPCC), where she has served since 2014. Her career at EPCC spans more than 30 years, beginning as a work-study student in Library Technical Services and advancing through multiple roles to earn tenure as a faculty member. She currently serves as Head Librarian of the EPCC Northwest Campus Library and the Jenna Welch Community Library, a dual mission academic and public library serving both college and community users. In her districtwide role, she oversees systemwide initiatives, including virtual reference services and major library system migrations.

Ms. Ambriz's previous positions include adjunct faculty at Arizona State University's Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, its Center for Innovation in Healthy & Resilient Aging, and ASU's WHO Collaborating Centre to Advance the Policy on Research for Health. For 10 years, Ms. Ambriz led international initiatives on information dissemination, communication technologies, multimedia, and mass media campaign development at the Pan American Health Organization/Regional Office of the World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) US-Mexico Border Office.

Among her areas of focus are integrating information literacy into college curricula and modernizing library services. Her work establishing embedded librarian programs was recognized with the 2018 Library Instruction Project of the Year Award from the Texas Library Association. She was also honored as Librarian of the Year (2016) by the Border Regional Library Association (BRLA), reflecting her impact on the library community in the El Paso border region. More recently, she received the prestigious 2025 Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award. She has held leadership roles in the Border Regional Library Association and the REFORMA El Paso Chapter. Ms. Ambriz has served on OCLC Councils since 2018 and is currently the Leaders Council Councilor-at-large.